The Rose
by Milliecake
Summary: After the Queen's death, Virginia thinks about her mother.


Disclaimer: Don't own it, just borrowing it.  
  
Author's note: This is kind of a missing scene. What might have happened before and after Virginia goes to give her mother the rose.  
  
  
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Before...  
  
The stone steps beneath Virginia were cold, the chill travelling up through her body, making her shiver in her pale dress. Her gaze rested upon the dried rose King Wendell had presented to her, its hardened petals sharp against the palm of her hand. Sitting on the steps leading down to the Royal crypt, Virginia closed her eyes and imagined her mother's face, shaped and changed by the passage of the years, but still possessed of a remarkable, ageless beauty.  
  
Mom, why did you go, why did you leave me? The words echoed in her head, a familiar litany that even after her mother's death, refused to be silent. If only her mother had never stumbled upon the doorway to the Tenth Kingdom, if only she had returned home after that fateful night...  
  
Virginia shook the disturbing thoughts from her mind. What was done, was done. And all the 'if onlys' in the world could not bring her mother back.  
  
A cool draft brushed the back of her neck and she heard footsteps cautiously approaching from above. She gave a silent sigh. Wolf had been hovering over her every waking moment, her pain mirrored in his dark eyes. But she needed time to be alone, to think and to remember. And, sometimes, to forget.  
  
"Here."  
  
The gentle voice startled her and she looked up to see King Wendell drape a warm cloak about her shoulders.  
  
"Thank you," she replied, surprised, pulling the soft cloth tighter about her frozen body.  
  
"I don't wish to disturb you," Wendell continued, "but Anthony told me where you had gone and I thought you might need this."  
  
He held out a large key, its metal surface dulled and darkened with age. There was no mistaking what lock it would turn in.  
  
"I didn't think," she murmured as she took it. The doors below drew her unwilling gaze. Now there was no excuse, no reason to turn away, to pretend that she had already said goodbye to the woman she had once called mother.  
  
She heard Wendell turn to leave and spoke, the words leaving her mouth before she had a chance to think. "What was she like?"  
  
She felt the young King pause, but couldn't bring herself to look his way. After a moment, Wendell took a seat beside her on the stone steps. His eyes were upon those dark doors below, but whatever his thoughts, he kept them to himself.  
  
"She was fair to see," he began, his words careful and considered. "People loved her. They were drawn to her by her beauty, her charm."  
  
"But it wasn't real." It wasn't as hard to say as she had thought.  
  
Now Wendell did look at her. "No. It wasn't," he agreed.  
  
"What happened?" she asked, staring down at the key in her hand. "What did she do?"  
  
"Virginia," Wendell said, after a moment. "She was your mother..."  
  
"I still want to know," Virginia replied, as firmly as she could. A tear had formed in one eye and she wiped it away, angrily. Damn, where had that come from?  
  
She heard Wendell draw a breath, before he began. "The Queen, my mother, was dying. Physicians from all over the Ten Kingdoms attended to her, yet in the end, no cure could be found."  
  
Poison, Virginia thought, bitterly. Poison is the way the Queen will strike. The words of Snow White came to her, spoken at another time, in another place.  
  
"After she died, my father was alone," Wendell continued. "For a time, he grieved. But, he grew lonely. Your mother managed to bring a measure of joy into his life and eventually they were wed."  
  
"And then she murdered him too." Virginia choked out, her voice unsteady with anger. She wanted to shout, to scream at those doors...WHY? WHY?!  
  
"Virginia." Wendell's voice was full of concern.  
  
"I wanted to know her!" Virginia cried, tears frozen and unshed in her eyes. "I wanted to be with her, to love her and have her love me!"  
  
"Virginia," Wendell said, again, touching her arm.  
  
She shook off his hand, turned huge, accusing eyes upon him. "Why?" she demanded, in anguish. "Why did you get to have her when I didn't?"  
  
She stopped and stared at him for a moment, shocked at the childish words. "I'm sorry," she whispered, putting a hand to her mouth. "I'm so sorry."  
  
Far from reproach, Wendell's eyes were softened by compassion and something more, something she had never expected. Understanding.  
  
They were both silent for a long moment, while Virginia gained some semblance of control over her tumultuous emotions.  
  
"Crazy, huh?" she said, at last, feeling foolish, but calmer. She dragged her sleeve across her face, wiping away the streaks of tears. "After everything she did to you, to your family, here I am, jealous of you."  
  
"It's alright," Wendell said, then climbed to his feet. "I will you leave you now."  
  
She smiled up at him, grateful for the understanding he had given her. He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.  
  
"We never stop longing for a mother's love," Wendell told her, softly.  
  
Then he was gone and Virginia was alone once more. She drew the cloak closer to her body, feeling the soft brush of its fur-lined hood. A memory came to her, one she had thought lost in the pain and confusion of her childhood. Her mother, sitting at her side, the scent of her perfume lingering in the air as she gently ran the fur of her coat across her daughter's face.  
  
With sudden resolve, Virginia rose and approached the doors below, the key heavy in the palm of her hand. She took a deep, calming breath, then placed the key in the lock.  
  
  
-----  
  
  
After...  
  
Gazing for one last time at her mother's peaceful, serene face, Virginia said a silent farewell, and climbed to her feet.  
  
Looking down, she gasped as the dried rose she had placed in her mother's hands suddenly began to bloom. Even as its darkened leaves unfurled into soft, rose red petals, tears of joy sprang to Virginia's eyes and the pain that she had kept tightly wrapped around her heart at last began to lift.  
  
Let her go, Wolf had said, and as she did so, for the first time in the long years since her mother had left, Virginia finally allowed herself to forgive.  
  
  
-----  
  
  
THE END  



End file.
